Friday, 4 March 2011

Pressure of time has so far prevented this blogger from delving deeply into the arcane mysteries of the British Standards Institute's "BS 8538:2011 Specification for the provision of services relating to the commercialization of intellectual property rights" (here). If you want to buy it, the price is £130 (£65 for BSI members). However, it would be amiss of IP Finance not to draw its existence to the attention of its readers. According to the British Standards Institute's shop website,

"BS 8538 is the British Standard that sets out for the first time good practice and principles of ethical behaviour for organizations providing services to inventors.In recent years there has been a substantial increase in the number of organizations offering services to inventors and other originators and developers of ideas.

These organizations include the Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO), Business Link , commercial service providers, universities that specialize in invention and product design, and inventors’ clubs. The UK-IPO has long promoted the need for individuals and organizations to take stock of their own novel creations and to secure the commercial rights to them, by way of patents , registered designs, trade marks, etc.

BS 8538 would also help inventors understand what to expect from a provider when seeking to secure the intellectual property rights for an idea.

Success in securing the legal rights can positively influence the business success for the idea. However, the law concerning intellectual property (IP) can be complex and the UK-IPO recommends that the creator of a new idea should always consider seeking advice from a firm of chartered patent attorneys or trade mark attorneys (who are legally qualified and independently regulated), or other advisers with the skills needed to assess whether the idea is appropriate for patent protection, trade mark registration or design registration, and who can prepare an application for the creator seeking potential legal rights.

As well as these practitioners there are other advisers, consultants, invention brokers and inventor-support organizations who offer help and advice covering the commercialization of these novel creations.

It follows that if every UK individual and organization secured the intellectual property (IP) to which they are entitled and then used it to commercial advantage, the UK would gain in the long term.

BS 8538 specifies the requirements for the provision of services to the originators of intellectual property with a view to their commercialization. ..."

Other standards have been, or are being, developed for IP, notably the ISO standard for brand valuation (here), the Austrian standard for trade mark valuation (here) and the German standard for patent valuation (here). These are events that are bound to have an impact on IP business activity, yet few people in the IP community appear to be even remotely interested in them. Is there anybody out there who would like to write for IP Finance on the establishment, take-up and impact of standards, and their impact on the real world?

1 comment:

The Finance's friend, Malte Köllner, a member of the German Standard's Institute DIN Committee for Patent Valuation, Frankfurt-based patent attorney, has sent him a note that the link on the website to the German PAS 1070 is out of date. DIN will shortly issue its final standard which will differ considerably from the PAS (draft) version. Thanks Malte!